During transformation operations, such as molding of articles or objects made of plastic, polymer residues of various shapes and of more or less large sizes, can remain in contact with the mold. In particular, during demolding, when the molds are opened, polymer residues can be torn away from the object molded and can adhere to the walls of the mold.
The same is true in extrusion screws, injection nozzles, and any of the parts of transformation devices which come into contact with plastics. It is imperative to clean, i.e. to eliminate, all these residues adhering to the molds, screws, nozzles and the like, in order to be able to perform further subsequent molding, operations, extrusion operations, and the like.
These cleaning operations aimed at removing the polymer residues are most commonly carried out today by bringing said residues into contact with one or more solvents or mixtures of solvents.
These solvents are most commonly organic solvents, some of which are foul-smelling, more or less toxic and damaging to the environment, but also especially toxic and harmful to the users responsible for cleaning said polymer residues.
Many of these solvents are today banned, or are going to be banned, either by government directives, or directly through the determination of the manufacturers themselves, worried about preserving the health of their employees.
For example, it is known that molds used for manufacturing polyurethane objects are generally cleaned with dimethylformamide (DMF) which is today considered to be harmful and toxic.
Thus, a first objective of the present invention is to provide novel polymer-residue-cleaning products, formulations and compositions which are less toxic and less harmful than the solvents used today, or even residue-cleaning products, formulations and compositions which are not toxic and not harmful to the environment and to users.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide polymer-residue-cleaning products, formulations and compositions which are more efficient than the solvents known and used today.
Other further objectives will emerge during the description of the present invention which follows.